[LA Life] The Growth of the Empire Polo Fields

In news out of The Palm Springs Desert Sun this morning, it appears that the world’s number one grossing music festival is once again making big moves. Over the last decade, The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California has shifted from a one day, one weekend occasion to a three day, two weekend phenomenon.

Last year alone, the festival drew 99,000 dancing, smiling faces each weekend – drawing 198,000 people with both weekends combined, and took in nearly $85 Million, according to Forbes. This past Wednesday, the Indio City Council approved Goldenvoice’s March proposal to increase the attendance cap for their April Festivities – with Coachella’s attendance blossoming over 25% from 99,000 a weekend to 125,000 a weekend; meaning total attendance rises to 250,000 from 198,000. Stagecoach, which occurs the following weekend, is expected to increase from 75,000 to 85,000 – raising by a mere 13%, in comparison.

Back in 2013, Goldenvoice, the parent company of Coachella, threatened to leave Indio over a 6% tax on tickets, which as you very well know cost in the ballpark of $350; meaning $21 of every ticket would have gone to the city, or roughly $4.15 Million. Instead, Goldenvoice set an agreement with the city that will keep them there at least until the year 2030. Within that agreement, Goldenvoice agreed that it would give $5.01 of every ticket sold to the city of indio – a 200% increase in profit. The agreement also paved the way for Goldenvoice to increase their festival breadth in the city from three events a year to five, two of them in the Fall! (Also, WHAT?!)

But, back to the original point – with Coachella’s attendance alone (198,000), Indio makes nearly $1 Million in taxes, add in Stagecoach and you have $1.36 Million. With the increase in capacity of 62,000 extra audiophiles, Indio is slated to add an extra 20% in profit, making nearly $1.67 Million. With the current supply and demand economy of the festival world, this news truly drives home the idea that we’re swimming in a money market with the sharks and are too blinded by the glitter, lasers and confetti to see it.

With Coachella already feeling like it’s pushing capacity and it’s internationally renowned cast of musicians drawing exponentially large crowds – it will be interesting to see how this impacts the flow of the event, or if they will choose to increase the festival grounds to account for their growth in attendance.